General Awareness

Can "Make in India" boost manufacturing industry

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On September 25, 2014, ‘Make in India’ drive was launched from the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi in the presence of several industry leaders and investors. Whilst announcing the initiative, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi rolled out the red carpet to investors through a string of measures including easier norms and rules aimed at transforming India into a manufacturing hub. The Make in India programme will lay emphasis on 25 sectors with focus on job creation and skill enhancement.

This is initiative has the potential to revive and transform the Indian economy. Already India has proved its mettle in service sector, the Make In India will make India a manufacturing hub as well.

According to Chanda Kochar of ICICI, Make In India drive has the potential to generate more than 9 crore jobs in the next decade. According to her, four areas are important to realise the project - ease of doing business, access to infrastructure, balanced policies and the right training to young people. The programme aims to grow the manufacturing sector’s share in the GDP from the current 15 to 25 per cent.

Despite the announcement and assurance to the investors by Prime Minister himself, the road to success would not be easy as there are several challenges before making India a global manufacturing hub. The foremost challenge before India is to ensure foreign companies cost effective manufacturing in India.

If a manufacturing unit doesn’t have access to the cheap and reliable source of energy, production of goods and services for the competitive international market will remain a mirage. Therefore, making energy starved India an energy surplus India is the most important prerequisite for successful implementation of Make In India programme. The recent Supreme Court decision on coal blocks may further aggravate the deteriorating energy scenario in India.

Another challenge which a company setting up a manufacturing plant in India may face is the infrastructural bottlenecks. India lacks the world class port facilities and network of super highways and railroad connectivity.

Off late, construction of new highways has been slowed down severely and was marred by the disease of policy paralysis. Among several issues affecting the growth of infrastructure in India, cumbersome land acquisition process often delays a project for years. Along with land acquisition, the archaic labour laws are also scaring the foreign producers away. In fact, the communist China has more liberal labour laws than the democratic India.

Other issues which needed to be answered in order to make the Make In India campaign successful include corruption, red tapism, numerous regulations and clearances, policy paralysis etc. Prime Minister himself recognized the roadblocks in the way of his dream and assured of building a business friendly climate.

He also gave a new dimension to FDI where asked fellow Indian to consider FDI not as Foreign Direct Investment but as First Develop India. If India becomes develop, investment will automatically come in.

Though several programmes by different governments have been launched in the past to transform the Indian economy, none of the programme has attracted so much interest by the stakeholders across the world.

Even China started ‘Make In China’ programme to counter the Make in India’ programme. Now with the Make In India initiative, the country should emerge as a preferred centre of choice for manufacturing.